jaiaen beck

In the wee hours of the morning Monday March 20th spring equinox raises its sleepy winter head and greets all the potentiality for the next year.  How do you find yourself … really ready for spring, like just craving more sun and gardening, or really hankering for more hunkering down with winter comforts reminding you of gratitude for relaxation and repose?

Lets explore that together on Saturday March 18th starting at 4 pm.  Come at 3 pm to help gather branches. 

Bring healthy finger foods, your journey blanket and journal, pens, and rattle or drums if you like.  Feel free to bring a friend or newbie.

We look to winter as a time to:

• store up the energy required to manifest the year,
• finish grieving any losses of last year to be able to “get on with living life”, and
• dreaming up new beginnings and seeing how to slice through the illusions that stop us from planting the seeds of our truest desires.

What seeds are you clearly wanting to plant? Is this what you think, or what you feel?  Is there any debris from 2016 (and before) that you want to remove…things that in themselves create obstacles and/or just sit there obstinately reminding you that you have tripped over them many times before?

• Emotions yelling your name on your map of reality, saying “dig here”, but which have been ignored?
• Mental constructs holding pretenses and preconceived limitations for you and everyone else, that you hold expectations of fitting, like a bad shoe?
• Spiritual “beliefs” that keep you in a box, trying to contain the immeasurable?
• Body stuff, like self-images that are worn out and hold absolutely no truth about who you really are?

What are the things you can shed over the next week to 10 days?  Give it your attention! How do you ask your spiritual allies for help with that (you know, Great Spirit/Creator/God/Infinite One, Power Animals/True Ones/Angels, Great Ones, Dear Ones, etc.)?  Can you be willing to (be willing to be willing to) surrender all of those meaty pieces of your old life, just like snow melting? Giving it up?  Allowing the new that comes with the birth of daffodils springing up?

Now is the time to really take time and form your seeds of intention for 2017. 

Do you want life to be different this year?  Now is the time to invest in yourself, as our mother earth is also reaching towards the next unfolding!  We are supported NOW in shifting our delusions about it all. And, in dreaming up a new way forward.

Let me know if you will be able to make it! 3-18 4pm Here.  Thanks!
Jaiaen

Brrrr….what a sweet end to fall!

Solstice, very early this coming Wednesday, is the official beginning of our wintertime blessings.  And, as long as the warming trend starts up as predicated, the Circle of Well Being will come together on Monday evening, the 19^th for a few hours.  It looks like we will be in the 40’s by then!

We will gather branches at 4 pm, so do come with your boots and coat to experience the spirit of that!  Please arrive no later than 5 pm and bring:

• A natural fiber journey blanket, journal and pens, pencils, colors if you like.
• Some healthy finger food to share.
• Drum or rattle if you like (there are plenty here if you don’t)
• A friend or co-hort – anyone is welcome, no journey experience is needed.

FOR THE HOLIDAY SHOPPER please feel free to come from 1 to 4 pm, or stay late, to check out Oregon Mineral and Mercantile’s full spectrum of holiday gifts. Here are some pics!  Besides the obvious stone world, there is an unusual selection to consider for your gift buying, with some real superb deals starting at 25 cents for the thrifty shopper with lots of people in mind! Members of Ancient Ways, or Circle monthly class members take 10% off!

So what is it about winter that is such a blessing?  Isn’t it just dark and cloudy with a lot of rain? Let’s imagine for a minute that you are the creator of your experience.  And, that you are beautifully entangled with everything on our earth.  You are another part of the generous and bountiful eco-system and terrain that envelopes everything in your life.  You benefit directly, obviously and richly from the sustenance and nurturing we call Mother Nature.  Depending upon where you live, you see the changes of the seasons.  Here in the Pacific Northwest we receive the most dramatic shows of colorful growth, as well as shedding.

Our fall has again been blessing us with shedding everything that we are willing and able.  Maybe a small annoying habit has left your life.  Maybe you surrendered an attachment to a belief in how things must work to be fair and just.  Maybe you let go of dreaming up the outer world as being what empowers you, and instead decided to imagine yourself able to influence the outcomes with different choices, not letting the material, political, economic, religious, or familial “world” hold dominion over you. Lots of shedding this fall!  So now, we get to go into our cave!

YES to this sweet inside time to re-dream our lives!  Hunker down and watch the embers of your soul.  Observe what makes them flicker.  See what stirs your spirit. Be really okay with slowing down and going inside.  If you do this now, while the earth here is also sleeping, you will awaken in spring quite renewed with enough inspiration and hope to generate and grow a new year in an empowering and vital way.

We are heading into a wonderful time of restoration, but we must look within.  The kingdom of heaven is within, and that is where we find that full spectrum of possibility.  The potential that is ignited in the fire of our life is fueled first and foremost by our choice, by our preferences, by our decision to BE.  I AM.  Winter is a beautifully creative time to go inside and see how you want to finish that sentence…I AM…  Making the choice to be authentic, be genuine and true to your heart, your path, your self.

Give the last few days of fall your best, and keep “shedding” up until late Tuesday night when your head hits the pillow, then ask for any remaining leaves on your tree to dissolve into the night.  When you wake up on Wednesday, it’s like another form of holiday has arrived and it’s time to let yourself rest and naturally dream a new way forward.  We are given 3 months to paint the blank canvas, when we will check in again at Spring Equinox and see what seeds you chose to plant for 2017.

Come and share your life and love with this community!

Feeling autumn all around you?  Cooler weather, colors evolving, tasty harvests, and smells only this time of year can bring…just saw my first flock of geese on a trajectory.  Feeling gratitude for a mind-blowing reaping time – 7 puppies just about 6 weeks old, 5 performing opportunities this month,  burgeoning marimba newbies, wonderfully kind, new and old friends, and the gardens blessing us all.

Autumn equinox is officially upon us – Thursday the 22nd early morning.   Feel free to join us for an equinox celebration at the regular time (3rd Saturday – the 17th, from 3 to 8 pm, beginning no later than 4 pm).  Help yourself to the earth’s bounty and use the power of nature to shift your life into fall gear.

Bring your drum/rattle, journey blanket, eye cover, table and pen and your favorite healthy finger food.  Be prepared to be outside. The new forest trails that opened for the Bana Kuma retreat this summer are beckoning!

Don’t hesitate to bring a friend…this is a good place to bring someone without journey experience.  Please call with questions!

Looking forward to seeing you and sharing a summer wrap up with a re-charge for the next phase of this year. And if you can’t make it…

May the road rise up to meet you.
May the wind be always at your back.
May the sun shine warm upon your face;
the rains fall soft upon your fields
and until we meet again,
may God hold you in the palm of His hand.

(traditional Gaelic blessing)

Annette will be here from 10 am to 3 pm in case you have not made your appointment.

1/2 hour is $45, 1 hour is $75 for that much-needed vacation, and 1.5 hours is $95 for those who appreciate a longer trip.

Feel free to call 503-510-4587…she is a busy gal so just leave a message.

May 15th Massage day is cancelled due to a death in Annette’s family…please send her your Large Love!

Hoping May is going well for you and the seeds you planted during Equinox are growing well!

Now is a great time to think about your tending…are you taking time to weed, to water, to wonder? Are they getting enough food, air circulation, sunlight?

This is a great check in time so you aren’t waiting until next month when we greet Solstice and find your seedlings are buried in brambles, choked out by too many other concerns, or spindly without good roots, etc.

Personally I’m challenged by having taken time out of my winter cave, gone to the other side of the world where it was summer, and not had enough hibernation and rest to really keep up with this warm flush we’re in. Wow…what a great spring!

See some of you next weekend for May’s Explore the Intersection classes!

Some of us have been talking about the massage room being open for you.  This is a reminder that April 30th, next Saturday, Annette Boyajian will again be here from 11 am to 3 pm. Please give her a call to set up an appointment.

1/2 hour is $45, 1 hour is $75 for that much-needed vacation, and 1.5 hours is $95 for those who appreciate a longer trip.  Feel free to call 503-510-4587…she is a busy gal so just leave a message.

Here is the plan:

• April 30th, 11 to 3 pm
• Also for Mother’s Day, May 15th here, same hours.  Book yourself a treat!
• From June to November she will be here on the Last Saturday of the month, same hours.

I have found Annette to be consistent in her approach, and able to move into my space, finding those places that need special care.  She knows much about working with injury, tension, and just plain feel-good techniques.

Join us for the annual Earth Day at Thyme Garden in Alsea!  Free music and educational opportunities all day long.  We will be offering an earth drumming and healing circle at 3:30.

Superb way to bring spring inside!

Let me know if you will attending and helping with the ceremony!